ODA COMMITTEE ACTION TIP

ONTARIANS WITH DISABILITIES
ACT COMMITTEE
LAUNCHES NEW PUBLIC CAMPAIGN

October
23, 2000

Today, the ODA Committee launches
a new campaign. A leaked secret cabinet document showed that the Harris
Government decided in late August to introduce a new bill this fall
that will not remove the barriers that face 1.5 million Ontarians
with disabilities. It will include no new rights and no new enforcement
mechanisms. At most, it may raise fines for illegally using a disability
parking spot.

This document suggests that the Harris
Government plans to introduce its bill any time now, between October
and December of 2000. Its strategy is to sneak this bill through with
as little public attention as possible, to avoid public criticism.
We expect that the Government will introduce its do-nothing bill by
November 23 or even sooner, to take advantage of the fact that the
media will be busy covering the federal election. They may hope that
there will be little media coverage of the fact that they have betrayed
Ontarians with disabilities by breaking their promises.

The next 4 to 8 weeks are absolutely
critical for us. The leaked Cabinet document reveals the Harris
Government's cold thinking. They believe, based on some public opinion
poll, that the Ontario public may not be interested, and not care
about an effective law to remove the barriers we face. The purpose
of our new campaign is to directly respond. We want to show that
Ontarians do care about the needs of persons with disabilities, and
about having a strong law to make Ontario barrier-free for us.
It's Mike Harris who does not care.

We are calling this our "Ontarians
Do Care" campaign.
Our goal is to get as many members of the public
as possible to show Premier Harris, and the public, that they do care
and they do support us. We want to get as many people without
disabilities, as well as persons with disabilities, to join in this
campaign as possible.

Over the next days, we will circulate action tips with ideas on how
you can participate in this campaign. We encourage you to use these
tips, to come up with your own ideas, and to share them with us.

To get started right away, here's
our first action tip of this "Ontarians Do Care" campaign:
Please expand on our successful, ongoing "Call Mike" action.

Many people have already called Premier
Harris at his Toronto office at (416) 325-1941 to ask why the ODA
is taking so long. We encourage you to call him now, and if you have
called before, to call again.

Tell him or his staff that Ontarians
do care about persons with disabilities, and about the need for a
strong Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

Tell him to reject his Cabinet's
leaked plans for a do-nothing ODA.

Tell him not to introduce the toothless
bill they plan to present on November 23. Ask who ever answers the
phone for a direct answer.

Don't let them transfer you to Citizenship
Minister Helen Johns.

Get as many people as you can to
call the Premier, including people without disabilities as well as
persons with disabilities. Arrange a "Call Mike" party where
friends can call. Tell us how it goes!

We will have more action ideas for
you soon. Please circulate this announcement and the upcoming action
tips to one and all.